Workflow systems and methods for project management and information management

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to workflow systems and methods. In one embodiment, the invention relates to integration of a calendar system with a workflow system where a calendar event can initiate a workflow by sending a message to a form route manager. The completion of a workflow or step in the workflow can result in sending a message to a calendar system to generate an event. In another embodiment, the invention relates to the integration of workflow with a project management system that includes project segments, which are processes that can be defined and controlled by workflow routes. The project management system sends a message to the workflow system to initiate workflow and the workflow system sends a message to the project management system, for example, at the completion of the workflow route. The relationship between the workflow routes can maintain the relationship between the project segments. If the relationships between project segments change, the relationship between the workflow routes changes without added effort.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/022,896, filed Jan. 30, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,702,736, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/037,545, filed Dec. 21,2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,546,346, which is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. application Ser. No. 09/417,280, filed Oct. 13, 1999, now U.S. Pat.No. 6,442,594, which is a division of U.S. application Ser. No.08/901,539, filed Jul. 28, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,836; thedisclosure of each is incorporated herein in its entirety.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/022,899, filed Jan. 30, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,702,737, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/037,545, filed Dec. 21,2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,546,346, which is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. application Ser. No. 09/417,280, filed Oct. 13, 1999, now U.S. Pat.No. 6,442,594, which is a division of U.S. application Ser. No.08/901,539, filed Jul. 28, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,836; thedisclosure of each is incorporated herein in its entirety.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/022,904, filed Jan. 30, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,707,259, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/037,545, filed Dec. 21,2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,546,346, which is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. application Ser. No. 09/417,280, filed Oct. 13, 1999, now U.S. Pat.No. 6,442,594, which is a division of U.S. application Ser. No.08/901,539, filed Jul. 28, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,836; thedisclosure of each is incorporated herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of computer networks, and inparticular to workflow systems and methods used in computer networks tocontrol, access, process, track, and modify documents. The inventionalso relates to workflow systems integrated with project and informationmanagement systems.

A workflow system automates processing of documents in computer networksby defining the sequence of users with access to documents transmittedin the computer network. One application suitable for workflow isbusiness travel reimbursement, having the following steps: (1) thetraveler sends a request for reimbursement to a manager; (2) the managerreviews it; and (3) the manager either sends the approved request toaccounting for payment or returns the request to the traveler forclarification. During the process, the users of the workflow system maywant certain information. The manager may want information from thetraveler before approval, accounting may want the total number ofrequests submitted by the traveler within the year, and the traveler maywant to know where the request is in the process, especially if it isdelayed. A route describes the step-by-step sequence of a givenworkflow. The route may have a linear sequence and/or complexconditional branching. The latter type may require databases to storethe independent parallel routes, which later join to form a linearroute. Simple workflow may require only an email system to emulatepaper-based procedures using mail and routing slips. As shown in FIG.1A, a database workflow system stores the document, the route, and thesequence of access in data tables. Because the information is stored inthe memory of the database system, database systems can provide forcomplex routes, supply information on the document, and alert users toprocess delays. Many databases also have failure detection and recoverymechanisms to assure reliability. However, databases require that usersemploy specific programs to process the workflow, and remain connectedto the database for the entire session, which can result in expensivelong distance phone calls when users are remote from the database.Because the users may participate in many workflow processes, databaseworkflow systems may require a number of specific programs to be loadedin their PCs and require access to a number of databases. This mayunnecessarily confuse users who must then identify the programs and thedatabases associated with a given workflow.

As shown in FIG. 1B, an email workflow system transmits the document andthe route in the email. This has the advantage that users only needemail programs such as Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, or MicrosoftExchange. Further, a remote user such as a traveling manager can approvedocuments as remote email. However, since key information about thedocument is in the email, the workflow process fails if the email islost. Because there is no central memory, even basic information such aslocation of a document may be lost. In addition, since there is noaccess to global information, the email workflow routes are limited tosimple linear routes. Further, because the route is part of the emailand coded for a particular system, each PC must have a specific programto send the email to the next user. So while users may have theadvantage of easy access in email workflow systems, they must havespecific programs loaded in their PC before participating in theworkflow process. This makes ad hoc creation of a workflow routeimpracticable, because the participants must have prepared in advance byloading all of the appropriate software in their PCs. As with thedatabase workflow system in which many users participate in theworkflow, an email workflow requires many workflow programs be loaded ineach PC, lacks capability to perform complex routes and track documents.Thus, the overall benefit of using current email workflow systems islimited.

It would be desirable if workflow systems existed which could performcomplex database functions, provide the easy accessibility of email,avoid the need for specific programs in each PC, and insulate the userfrom the need to identify the pertinent server for a given workflowprocess.

Workflow systems and methods extend to other applications. For example,many complex projects are planned using groupware and project managementtools. A key groupware tool for project management is an electroniccalendar system where events are planned and the calendar can be set tocreate alerts to notify team members that an event is due. A project canhave a calendar to post events to coordinate the project's activities.Most electronic calendar systems can coordinate the calendars of each ofthe individual participants as well as that of the project. Some ofthese calendar events are based on the execution of project segments andthe calendar times may need to be added, modified, or deleted. Thecalendar events in the project calendar are created and updated manuallyand require attention to be effective. However, many of the eventsassociated with the calendar could be in workflow processes and it wouldbe desirable to integrate workflow systems with calendar and thecalendar events.

One example of a process related to a calendar event is annualperformance reviews. A calendar system can set the date to initiate thereview process. On that date, a workflow can begin with the steps ofnotifying the manager of the review, approval of the proposed review byHuman Resources (HR), the review with the employee, the sign-off byemployee and by the manager, a sign-off by the manager's manager, and asign-off by HR. At the completion of the workflow process, the calendarsystem should be notified and the date for the next annual review set.The workflow can have all of the measurement and tracking functions thatcan be used to control the performance review process. In addition, theworkflow integration can coordinate the calendars of the individuals. Inthe example, as each step is completed, the calendars of theparticipants for the next step can be coordinated so that the reviewsand meetings can be scheduled Integration between workflow controlledbusiness processes and the electronic calendar system would be highlydesirable.

Another tool is a project management system where a project is dividedinto project segments. Project segments are planned with duration and abeginning and end date. A project segment may relate to another projectsegment such that it cannot start until the other segment completes. Thebeginning of the second segment can be based on the end of the firstsegment and the dates calculated by the project management system. Acomplex project is typically a network of dependent segments andconsiderable time can be spent on creating all of the segments and therelationships. The project plan is used to calculate the end date basedon the beginning date using the segment durations and the relationships.These may be displayed on a calendar grid to illustrate the projectplan.

An additional capability of a project management system is that it canbe used to track the actual execution of the segments and calculate theresulting end date. If the new end date is not acceptable, the projectmanagement system may be used to determine if the segments may bereordered or which segments may be accelerated to make the end dateacceptable. Thus, the project management system is a powerful tool.However, in practice, it is difficult to maintain all of the actualstart and end times for the project segments during the project. In mostprojects the collection and entry of the actual times are done manuallyeither in person, phone or email. Thus, project management duringproject execution is difficult to achieve without dedicated projectresources to keep the project status current. However, most of thesegments that are planned by the project management system could behandled as workflow-controlled processes. As with the calendar, it wouldbe desirable to integrate a project management system with the processexecution of workflow system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to message-based workflow systems andmethods. In one embodiment, the present invention provides threeelements: (1) an email system; (2) PC's, terminals, or workstationsconnected by the email system; and (3) a form route manager connected bythe email system.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides an email-basedworkflow system for processing a document, where the system is connectedto a computer network and an email system, comprising:

-   -   (1) a form route manager, connected to the computer network,        capable of receiving and sending the email, and capable of        defining:    -   (2) a route, a step-by-step sequence of email addresses, in the        network; and wherein a computer with an email address in the        network is adapted to send the email to the form route manager        which is adapted to send the email to the next email address in        the route.

In another embodiment, the present invention provides a method forcentrally distributing an email to a step-by-step sequence of emailaddresses, comprising:

-   -   (1) receiving the email with an indicator of the step in the        sequence;    -   (2) determining from the indicator and the sequence, the        successor email address in the sequence;    -   (3) updating the email indicator to the successor step; and    -   (4) sending the email to the successor email address.

The present invention also relates to integration of a calendar systemwith a message based workflow system where a calendar event can initiatea workflow by sending an appropriate message to the form route managerto start a workflow. The completion of a workflow or step in theworkflow can also result in sending a message to the calendar systemthat can generate a calendar event. Many of the segments in projectmanagement are processes that can be defined and controlled by workflowroutes. Each project segment can relate to a workflow route where thesegment starts with the beginning of the route and completes at thecompletion of the route. The project management system sends a messageto the workflow system to initiate the related workflow route and theworkflow system sends a message to the project management system at thecompletion of the workflow route. The relationship between the projectsegments is maintained in the project management system. Thus, therelationship between the routes is maintained by the relationshipbetween the project segments. If the relationships between projectsegments change, the relationship between the workflow routes changewithout added effort.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates the architecture of a conventional database workflowsystem.

FIG. 1B illustrates the architecture of a conventional email workflowsystem.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of the hardware of the form routemanager.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of the software stored in the memoryof the form route manager.

FIG. 4 is the ISO OSI network layer model, and the relationship of themodel to the form route manager.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the form route manager functions and theworkflow user functions.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the system and the sequence of emailsdemonstrating one function of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an example of business travel reimbursement approval.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating thefunction to support multiple routes.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating the tablesand functions to track the location and move history of each workflowdocument.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating theCONDITIONAL BRANCH function.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating theCONDITIONAL CANCEL function.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating thefunction to send email to a specified list of email addresses when abranch of a CONDITIONAL BRANCH is selected.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating thefunction to send email to a specified list of email address when theworkflow passes a specific step in the route.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating thesending of email to a user not on route and not tracked by the formroute manager.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating thesending of email to a user not on route but tracked by the form routemanager.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram and tables to create a new route based on themove history table.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating thecooperative functions of two form route managers to support a route thatstarts in one and continues in the other.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating the FORK and JOIN functions andparallel branch routes in a route.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating rulebased FORK branch function.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating rulebased JOIN function.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating errordetection using timed intervals and error recovery of a lost email usinga stored copy of the email.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram and sequence of email illustrating one formroute manager backing up another form route manager.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating thedocument format change by form route manager based on the route.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram and sequence of emails illustrating theSTATUS REQUEST and the response and use of email REPLY functions forusers to obtain status on documents.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram and tables illustrating the mapping of athree-step route with the roles at each step mapped to the email addressbased on a project identifier.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram and sequence of World Wide Web accesses andemails illustrating a combined web page and email based workflow system.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram and sequence of World Wide Web accesses andweb page data transfers illustrating the use of web page technology formessage based workflow system.

FIG. 28 illustrates a calendar system detecting that a calendar eventmatches the current date and time and sending a message to a workflowsystem to initiate a workflow associated with the calendar event.

FIG. 29 illustrates the details of a workflow and messages sent by thecalendar system and the workflow system to initiate a workflow from acalendar event.

FIG. 30 illustrates a workflow executing a route where a route stepcompletes and sends a notification message to the calendar system tocreate a calendar event based on the message.

FIG. 31 illustrates the details of the route and messages sent by theworkflow system and the calendar system to set a calendar event from theworkflow route.

FIG. 32 illustrates project segments in a project management system andshows their relationship and the project plan with respect to acalendar.

FIG. 33 illustrates the relationship of a project segment and a workflowsystem. A project management system initiates a workflow route with amessage to the workflow system and the completion of the workflow routeresults in the workflow system sending a message to the projectmanagement system.

FIG. 34 illustrates the details of the relationships between the projectmanagement system and workflow system shown in FIG. 33.

FIG. 35 illustrates the relationship between two project segments wherecompletion of segment G is a condition for the beginning of segment Hand the relationship of each project segment to their associatedworkflow routes.

FIG. 36 illustrates the details of the relationship of project segmentsand their associated workflow routes to implement the set of projectsillustrated in FIG. 32.

FIG. 37 illustrates the project segments of FIG. 32 when theirrelationship changes such that segment A is no longer a condition forthe beginning of segment B, that is, they may run in parallel.

FIG. 38 illustrates that the relationship between the individualprojects and their associated workflow routes remain even when therelationship between segments change as shown in FIG. 37.

FIG. 39 illustrates how the workflow route reports time for completing aproject segment and updates the project management system.

FIG. 40A and FIG. 40B illustrate a workflow route where the workflowsystem sends a message at a step to the project management system toreport on the progress toward completion of a project segment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The systems and methods for message-based workflow preferably operate ina computer network. The form route manager is embodied in a computer inthe network. With reference to FIG. 2, one embodiment of the form routemanager runs on server hardware including a processor (CPU) 21, a memory22, storage devices 23, input devices 24, network interface 25,communications interface 26, and a display 27. A computer bus 28connects the elements. The CPU 21 can be a suitable Intel, AMD,Motorola, or Sun processor or the like. The display 27 is preferably avideo monitor and the input device 24 is a keyboard and mouse. Thestorage devices 23 are a hard disk drive, a floppy diskette drive and aCD ROM drive. Those skilled in the art would realize the form routemanager can run on many types of computers, including a PC, aworkstation, a mini-computer, or mainframe computer and that they may beused by multiple users with multiple sets of display and input devices.

The network interface 25 connected to bus 28 is connected to a localarea network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) 210 or the Internet tocommunicate to other computers in the network. The network interface 25is preferably an Ethernet or Token ring adapter connected to a twistedpair wire or to a coaxial cable. In addition, the communicationsinterface 26 is connected 29 to a communications network, which maycommunicate with other computers using an ISP and/or a dial up phonesystem to connect to the network. The communications interface 26 can bea modem. The CPU 21 operates under the control of instructions stored inmemory 22.

FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed preferred embodiment of memory 22.The memory 22 is preferably random access memory (RAM) but may includeread only memory (ROM). The memory 22 includes operating system 31,email mailbox 32 with an in-box 33 and an out-box 34, and the form routemanager 35. The operating system is preferably Microsoft Windows XP,Linux, Windows 2000, or Unix such as Sun Solaris. Microsoft Exchange orLotus Notes or the like can be the email application and provide theemail mailbox 32. Each email mailbox 32 has an email address that is aunique identifier within the email system. Each email message contains afield with the email address of the email mailbox 32 to which the emailis sent, a field with the email address of the email mailbox 32 fromwhich it was sent, and a field with the content of the message. A userof an email mailbox 32 receives email in the in-box 33 and can select,open and read the email. New email is created using a text editor,addressed with the email address of the mailbox to which it is to besent, and is sent by placing the email in the out-box 34. The email onthe LAN and WAN is transmitted to the in-box 33 and from the out-box 34through the communications interface 26 for email transmitted remotelyusing the dial up phone lines. Email is generally discussed on pages643-669 in section 7.4 of Tanenbaum, Computer Networks (1996),Prentice-Hall, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

The form route manager 35 uses the email as an application. FIG. 4illustrates the form route manager 35 in relationship to the ISO OSIreference model 41 and the implementation layers 42 of the ISO OSIreference model. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the formroute manager may be adapted to use a wide variety of messaging andemail systems such as IBM PROFS, DEC Mail, Internet Mail, Oracle Mail,Lotus Notes, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Exchange, SMTP mail, wirelessmail, LAN- and WAN-based, remote mail and mail access using phone lines,Internet access, wireless access, voice mail, video mail, and otherforms of messaging with characteristics of addressable messages. Sincethe Internet functions to connect numerous email systems, all emailsystems connected to the Internet, even those connected throughintermediate mail systems and relay nodes, can be considered to be partof one email system.

The function of the form route manager 35 is illustrated in theflowchart in FIG. 5. The route is a step-by-step sequence of emailaddresses. The mailbox for the form route manager is assigned an emailaddress. The emails addressed to the form route manager are received inthe in-box 33. At step 52, the form route manager checks if the email isin the in-box 33. If there is an email, it checks at step 53 if theemail is sent from an email address that is the last step in the route.If it is the last step in the route, the email is deleted at step 54from the in-box. If it is not the last step, at step 55, a step field isset to the next step in the route and the email address is set to theemail address of the next step in the route. The email is sent to thenext email address by using out-box 34. The email is deleted at step 54from the in-box. In other words, the form route manager receives emailfrom an email address in the route and sends it to the next emailaddress in the route. If the email is from the email address that is thelast step in the route, the email is not sent further.

The form route manager function is part of a message-based workflowsystem. This is illustrated in FIG. 5, where the e-min FIG. 5, where theemail contains a workflow document and the route specifies thestep-by-step sequence of email addresses of the workflow. Themessage-based workflow user receives the workflow document as email inthe in-box 33. The user selects 58 the email from the in-box 33, opensthe email, sets the email address to that of the form route manage,processes the workflow document in the email, and sends the email backto the form route manager using the out-box 34. The form route managerreceives the email in the in-box, and if this is not the last step inthe route, sends the email to the next email address as describedearlier. This process continues until the workflow route is completed.

Many email systems have a reply function, which returns email to thesender, which can be used to return email to the form route managerwithout explicitly entering the email address of the form route manager.A more complex environment may have multiple form route managers, eachwith an email address. In a preferred embodiment, users need not beconcerned as to which form route manager sent the email, because thereply function will return email to the correct form route manager. Theusers need only open the email from the in-box, process the workflowdocument in the email, use the reply function to address the email tothe correct form route manager, and send it out the out-box.

The form route manager provides a central, sequential email distributionfunction based on the step-by-step sequence of a route where a computerin the network sends an email to the form route manager and the formroute manager sends the email to the next computer in the route.

In an embodiment, the route defines the sequence of email addresses ofthe workflow. The route is contained in a table of structured querylanguage (SQL) in an SQL database accessed by the form route manager. Asshown in FIG. 6, the route 610 includes an email address A, an emailaddress B, and an email address C implemented by the SQL Table ROUTEwhere each row of the table represents a step in the route: STEP, thenext email address: NEXT EMAIL ADDRESS, and the next step in the route:NEXT STEP.

SQL TABLE ROUTE: STEP NEXT E-MAIL ADDRESS NEXT STEP 1 B 2 2 C 3 3 NULLNULL

The first row indicates that for step=1, the next email address is B andthe next step is 2. For the second row step=2, and the next email is Cand next step is 3. The third row for step=3, the next email address andnext step values are NULL which indicates step 3 is the last step in theroute.

The email and the form route manager contain the information necessaryto identify the step in the route. As shown in FIG. 6, in oneimplementation, the email contains a control field, STEP 69 that holdsthe value of step to access the route SQL table to determine the nextemail address and next step. Those skilled in the art will realize thereare many data structures that can be used to implement the informationneeded in the route and that the route step information can be indicatedby other means such as a storage location in the form route manager.

FIG. 6 illustrates the workflow email format, the route in the formroute manager and the sequence of emails sent between the emailaddresses and the form route manager to effect the workflow of route 610for the sequence: A to B to C. The email format 66 consists of the emailTo and From address fields 67, the workflow document as the body of themessage 68, and the control field, STEP 69.

In one embodiment, the workflow document is processed as follows:

-   -   1) The user at email address A initiates the workflow by sending        an email 61 with document R and STEP=1 to the form route        manager;    -   2) The form route manager receives the email 61, and determines        from STEP=1 and the route that the next email address is B and        the next step is 2. The form route manager updates STEP=2 and        sends the workflow document R as email 62 to email address B;    -   3) The user at email address B receives the email 62 from the        form route manager, processes the document by changing the body        of the message to S, and sends email 63 back to the form route        manager;    -   4) The form route manager receives the email 63, and determines        from STEP=2 and the route that the next email address is C and        that the next step is 3. The form route manager updates STEP=3        and sends the workflow document as email 64 to email address C;    -   5) A user at email address C receives the email 64 from the form        route manager, processes the document by changing the body to T,        and sends email 65 back to the form route manager; and    -   6) The form route manager receives the email 65 and determines        from STEP=3 and the route the next step is NULL, which completes        the route.

In this example, the workflow document is embodied in five differentemails, but at any time only one is the active carrier of the document.If email 61 is transformed into email 62, the email 61 no longer acts asthe carrier of the document and can be deleted. Each email carries itsposition in the route in the control field STEP 69. This permits morethan one concurrent use of a workflow route. Because each workflow emailcarries its state in the route, each document is independent of otherworkflow documents and may share the same route without interference.Using the email address or name of a user as indicator of the step in aroute is ambiguous, since the email address or name may be repeated in aroute. Thus, the email field STEP 69 permits the route to distinguisheach use of a user who may appear more than once in the route. As anexample, a workflow that requires the user at email address A to reviewthe work of the user at email address B, which is then followed by workby the user at email address C, which is reviewed by the user at emailaddress A, the route might be described by the sequence: email address B(STEP=1), email address A (STEP=2), email address C (STEP=3), emailaddress A (STEP=4). The use of only the email address as the statevariable would not distinguish between the first use of email address A(STEP=2) from the second use of email address A (STEP=4). This exampledemonstrates implementation of a workflow system where each user needonly have access to the email system.

A more sophisticated user interface for workflow can be developed by useof special electronic form programs that format the email and displaythe workflow email as a workflow form for editing and automate the replyfunction to address the email to return to the form route manager. Forexample, the Microsoft operating systems and Microsoft Exchange emailsystem with the Microsoft E-Forms extensions have these functions aspart of the Windows environment and the message-based workflow systemcan take advantage of this without other special programs.

FIG. 7 shows one embodiment of the invention in the context ofreimbursement approval. Rather than a linear route, the workflowrequired has several conditional branches. A traveler, P1, can SUBMITthe completed business travel reimbursement document to the manager orcan elect to CANCEL the travel approval procedure after a CLARIFY returnfrom the manager as described later. The manager, P2, may APPROVE,sending the document to finance, P3, or may ask to CLARIFY, sending itback to P1 (for example, to ask for explanations or corrections), or mayCANCEL the approval procedure. Finance, P3, can send a message to P1when the procedure is complete. The traveler, P1, may receive thedocument back from the manager, P2, and can amend it and SUBMIT it backto P2 or may CANCEL the procedure. The participants and others may wantinformation about the status of the procedure.

The travel reimbursement workflow illustrates useful features of theform route manager. These features are: (1) support for two or moredifferent routes; (2) capability to track each document in the workflowsystem and to collect statistical information; (3) support forconditional branches and cancellation of a document workflow; and (4)support for sending messages when specific steps are processed or whenconditional events occur. These may be combined to implement a workflow,which supports business procedures like the business travelreimbursement procedure.

Support for Two or More Routes

The present invention of message-based workflow supports multiple routesas illustrated in FIG. 8 by the use of an email control field ROUTE 811that is set to the name of the route email is associated. The SQL TableROUTE X & Y illustrates the SQL table structure to implement two routesnamed X 812 and Y 813.

SQL TABLE: ROUTE X & Y: ROUTE STEP NEXT E-MAIL ADDRESS NEXT STEP X 1 A 2X 2 B 3 X 3 NULL NULL Y 1 B 2 Y 2 C 3 Y 3 NULL NULL

Row one of SQL Table ROUTE X & Y indicates that for route X at step 1,the next email address is A and the next step in route X is 2 and soforth. The form route manager determines the next email address and nextstep by using the ROUTE and STEP control fields in the email to accessthe route SQL table and updates the email address to the next emailaddress and STEP to the next step and sends the email to the next emailaddress.

FIG. 8 illustrates the form route manager supporting the two routes:route X 812 and route Y 813. The email contains the control field ROUTE811 to identify which route is to be used for the email. The sequence ofemails: 81, 82, 83, 84, and 85 with control field ROUTE=X is processedusing Route X and the sequence of emails: 86, 87, 88, 89, and 810 withcontrol field ROUTE=ROUTE is processed using route Y.

Document and Providing Statistical Information:

Additional functions are provided when the form route manager trackseach document as it is processed. In FIG. 9, the email control field DOC912, for document, is a message control field associated with a workflowdocument and is carried in each workflow email to identify the documentthat it is carrying. The value of DOC 912 for a given document must beunique to distinguish an email containing this document from among theemails for other documents active in the workflow system. The value forDOC 912 is set when a document begins a procedure with the initialemail. The value may be set by the form route manager, or by the userand the form route manager will verify that the value is unique for theactive document, or by rules that insure that the values are unique. Anexample of a rule to generate a unique DOC 912 value is theconcatenation of the user email address and the time in milliseconds anddate. This value would be unique since it would be impossible for a userat the same email address to create two documents at the same time inmilliseconds.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the form route manager contains a LOCATIONtable and a MOVE HISTORY table. These are referenced using DOC 912 asthe index. An implementation could combine these two tables into onewhere the most recent entry for a document represents the location ofthe document in the workflow system.

FIG. 9 illustrates workflow for three documents where a user at emailaddress C initiates one workflow by generating the sequence of emails91, 92, 93, and 94 that follow route X. The email 91 does not have a DOC912 value when sent by a user at email address C to the form routemanager, but rather merely identifies it is an initial email, STEP=1,and which route is to be used, ROUTE=X.

The form route manager assigns II for DOC 912 for the email and tableindexes. The form route manager then enters in the MOVE HISTORY tablethat the email assigned DOC=II was received from the email address C ata military time and date of 9:30/11/05. The form route managerdetermines email address A is the next address in ROUTE X and sends theemail 92 with DOC=II, ROUTE=X, and STEP=2, to email address A and entersthe following in the LOCATION table: DOC=II, ROUTE=X, STEP=2, emailaddress=A. The user at email address A processes email 92 (changes thebody from “V” to “E”) and returns email 93 to the form route manager.The form route manager using that ROUTE=X and STEP=2 determines that thenext step in route X is 3, the next email address B, and updates thestep field to STEP=3 and the email address field to email address=B. Asshown in FIG. 9, the form route manager uses DOC=II as an index toaccess the LOCATION table and update the LOCATION table to email addressB, and adds in the MOVE HISTORY table: DOC=II, email address=A,Time=10:25/11/05, and sends the email 94 to email address B. TheLOCATION table indicates that the workflow document is at email addressB and the MOVE HISTORY table indicates it was sent at 10:25 on 11/05.From the MOVE HISTORY table, one can tell the workflow started at 9:30on 11/05 and that it took the user at email address A about 55 minutesto respond and perform that workflow step.

The user at email address A initiates two documents which generatesemail sequence 96 and 97 with DOC=I and email sequence 98, 99, 910, and911 with DOC=II, both following route Y. The LOCATION table indicatesthat DOC=I is currently at email address B and DOC=III is at emailaddress C. The MOVE HISTORY table provides the process timing and theusers who processed these steps. The number of entries in the LOCATIONtable is a measure of the number of active documents in the workflowsystem. The MOVE HISTORY table can be used to calculate statistics,e.g., average time to use the Route X procedure, the total number ofdocuments processed, and find any workflow step with large process timeindicating a possible bottleneck.

The LOCATION table holds values for ROUTE and STEP for each activedocument. The email field DOC 912 can be used as the index to accessthese values from the LOCATION table and remove the need for ROUTE andSTEP in the email except for the initial email. However, having thisinformation in both the email and LOCATION table provides an integritycheck on the flow of the document. For example, the form route managercan compare the ROUTE and STEP fields of an email with the values in theLOCATION table to detect an old email for a document and prevent thepropagation of an erroneous email.

Conditional Branching and Conditional Cancellation

Some workflow requires a change in the flow of the document based ondecisions made in a workflow step. In the business travel reimbursementexample, the manager could approve the document and send it toaccounting, send the document back to the traveler, or cancel theapproval procedure. The route can specify steps in which choices may bemade or the specific functions to be executed by the form route manager.The SQL table branch route illustrates the structure to support theconditional branching illustrated in FIG. 10.

SQL TABLE BRANCH ROUTE: STEP NEXT E-MAIL ADDRESS NEXT STEP BRANCH ROUTE1 B 2 2 C 3 Y 2 D 4 N 3 NULL NULL 4 NULL NULL

In the BRANCH ROUTE table, row one indicates that at step 1, the nextemail address is B and the next step is 2. However, rows two and threehave the same step value of 2. This permits selection of the route basedon the value of the BRANCH ROUTE.

In FIG. 10, the route permits a user at email address B at Step 2 toselect the route branch by setting the control field BRANCH INDICATOR.The user at email address B can send the document to email address C bysetting the BRANCH INDICATOR=Y which selects the branch route to emailaddress C or can select email address D by setting the BRANCHINDICATOR=N. The email sequence 101 and 102 transmits the document fromthe user at email address A to email address B. The user at emailaddress B responds with email 103 with BRANCH INDICATOR=N. The formroute manager compares the BRANCH INDICATOR with the BRANCH ROUTE anddetermines that the next email address in the selected branch route isemail address D and sends the email 104 to the email address D. A userat email address D completes the route by sending the email 105 to theform route manager. Email sequence 106, 107, 108, 109, and 1010illustrates a document workflow that selects the branch route to theemail address C by setting the BRANCH INDICATOR=Y. While the exampleillustrates a two-way branching decision, three or more branches can beimplemented easily after review of the present application.

The cancellation of workflow can be thought of as a special case of theconditional branch where the workflow terminates on one of the branches.In FIG. 11, the email contains a control field CANCEL 119. A user atemail address B can either send the document to email address C orcancel the work flow by setting CANCEL=Y. The email sequence 116 and 117sends the document from the user at email address A to email address B.In email 118, the user at email address B cancels the workflow bysetting the CANCEL=Y. The form route manager determines from CANCEL 119being set=Y that no further emails are to be sent for this document. Theemail sequence 111, 112, 113, 114, and 115 illustrate a workflow wherethe user at email address B continues the workflow and the document issent to email address C.

Another form of a conditional cancel can be made by constructing a routethat permits selecting a branch route that ends the workflow using theBRANCH INDICATOR as described earlier. The indicator for the end of aworkflow in this example is a branch route with “NULL” as the next routestep.

Event Notification

In many businesses, the users like prompt notification when choices aremade or process steps are completed. For example, the traveler seekingreimbursement would like to be promptly notified if the manager deniesthe business travel reimbursement request. FIG. 12 illustrates a routethat specifies that a set of emails are to be sent to a distributionlist if the user at email address B sets the BRANCH INDICATOR=N. Asimilar function extends to the CONDITIONAL CANCEL function. The routecontains a SEND MESSAGE 1211 field that indicates when a message is tobe sent. The route is represented by SQL TABLE MESSAGE where the messageis to be sent to LIST D, a list of email addresses, if ROUTE BRANCH N isset at STEP=2.

SQL TABLE MESSAGE: NEXT E-MAIL BRANCH STEP ADDRESS NEXT STEP ROUTE SENDMESSAGE 1 B 2 2 C 3 Y 2 D 4 N LIST D 3 NULL NULL 4 NULL NULL

In FIG. 12, the email sequence 121 and 122 transmits the document fromthe user at email address A to email address B. A user at email addressB sets the BRANCH INDICATOR=N in email 123. The form route managerdetermines that email address D is next and sends emails 1211 to thedistribution list LIST D informing of the decision of the user at emailaddress B to set the BRANCH INDICATOR=N. Email sequence 126, 127, 128,129 and 1210 illustrates where BRANCH INDICATOR=Y was set at step 2 andinformational messages are not sent.

It may be desirable to have the emails sent when the workflow reaches aspecific step. FIG. 13 illustrates a route where a set of emails 136 aresent to a mailing list 137, a list of email addresses, when step 2 iscompleted by the user at email address B and email 133 is received bythe form route manager. Those skilled in the art will realizenotifications are not limited to email but may involve phone pages,voicemail, facsimile, or other notifications.

Travel Reimbursement Approval Procedure

We have now defined the necessary functions to implement the travelreimbursement approval procedure. The route for the procedure in FIG. 7is illustrated in SQL TABLE TRAVELER. The traveler is P1, the manager isP2, and accounting is P3.

SQL TABLE TRAVEL: NEXT E-MAIL NEXT SEND STEP ADDRESS STEP BRANCH ROUTEMESSAGE 1 P2 2 2 P3 3 APPROVE 2 P1 4 CLARIFY 2 NULL NULL CANCEL P1 3NULL NULL P1 4 P2 2 SUBMIT 4 NULL NULL CANCEL P2

In the first row, the document is sent to P2. The next three rowsprovide P2 with the choice of approving the document and sending it toP3, or sending the document back to P1, or canceling the workflow andsending a message to P1. The fifth row is the completion of the workflowby P3. The sixth and seventh rows provide P1 with the choice of sendingthe document to P2 or canceling the workflow and sending a message toP2. The email format uses STEP, DOC, and BRANCH INDICATOR controlfields. The DOC field enables tracking of each document using theLOCATION table and MOVE HISTORY table. These tables provide real timelocation of the document and statistical information on each documentand collection of documents. The BRANCH INDICATOR field permits P1 andP2 to implement their choices.

Workflow Routes and Organizational Knowledge Base

The workflow emails appear in some respects as emails to the emailsystem. Thus, a user can send workflow email to anyone on the computernetwork and not just back to the form route manager. If the workflow istracked by the form route manager in the LOCATION and MOVE HISTORYtables, the form route manager can only track the email to the last userto whom it had sent the email. In FIG. 14, a user at email address Bsends a workflow email 143 to email address D rather than to the formroute manager. A user at email address D sends the email 144 to emailaddress C, but the form route manager can only track the email to theemail address B, the last email address that the form route manager sentthe email. The expectation is that the user at email address C will sendthe email 145 to the form route manager.

Redefining the Workflow Route to Obtain an Optimal Set of Users

It may be desirable to send workflow email to a user not on thepredetermined route. In the past, many workflow applications were forroutine processes making it easy to predefine the route and users tocarry out the process. Now, however, many people have a role in ourknowledge-based society imposing different constraints on workflow.Unlike the routine processes of the past, the best route may not beclear at the outset. The present invention addresses this problem byproviding a way to dynamically redefine the route based on choices madeby the users on the route to better harness the ever-changing knowledgeof the organization. This ability to redefine the route at the userlevel is of great value.

In one embodiment, the system opens workflow to anyone on the emailsystem and not just those originally specified in the route. Thus, anindividual in the route can send an email to others who may haveinformation, which adds value to the workflow. This is very advantageousas it is difficult to establish the optimal set of experts forknowledge-based processes. However, the users on the route can typicallyidentify others who should be added to the route. Thus, in oneembodiment, the system provides workflow, which tracks the actual routeand captures the actual route as defined by the user community. Thispermits an organization to leverage its knowledge of the organizationand use the workflow as the “memory” of successful workflows. Thisability to go off route and capture the optimal route permits theworkflow to track the evolving knowledge of the organization.

Capturing Actual Workflow Routes

To track email, the form route manager must be part of the email messageworkflow. The ROUTE MODIFIER control field in workflow email providesthis mechanism. If the ROUTE MODIFIER is assigned an email address, theform route manager sends the email to this email address and tracks itby updating the LOCATION and MOVE HISTORY tables. As shown in FIG. 15,route X flows from email address A to email address B to email addressC. The route that is executed, the actual route, includes the user atemail address D. The email sequence 151 and 152 sends the email from theuser at email address A to email address B. The user at email address Bsends email 153, with the ROUTE MODIFIER set to email address D and tothe form route manager. The form route manager updates the LOCATION andMOVE HISTORY tables to reflect that it sent the workflow email 154 toemail address D. A user at email address D returns email 155 to the formroute manager and the form route manager determines the next user on theroute email address C, updates the tables, and sends email 156 to emailaddress C.

At the completion, the MOVE HISTORY table holds the exact sequence ofemail addresses for a specific document. As illustrated in FIG. 16, theMOVE HISTORY table can be used to create a new route based on the routeactually executed. The MOVE HISTORY can be used directly or can beedited to prune and/or extend to people not in the MOVE HISTORY table tohelp the evolution of a procedure. Thus, the original route specified Ato B to C, the route created from the MOVE HISTORY table specifies A toB to D to C, where D was added to the original route.

Multiple Form Route Managers Workflow System

It may be desirable to have the route and tracking of workflow separatedinto two or more form route managers. For example, a workflow may crosstwo widely separated sites and the delay of email transfer may impactthe performance of the workflow. Another application is when theworkflow route is separated so that each route segment can evolvewithout impacting the other route segment. A third application is wherea workflow may start in one company and continue in another company.Finally, the two route managers may backup one another.

FIG. 17 illustrates a workflow route segment that begins in form routemanager 1 from email address A to email address B, then to a secondroute segment in form route manager 2, email address C, email address D,and finally to email address E. In an implementation, the SQL table inform route manager 1 representing route segment 1 is illustrated as SQLtable ROUTE SEGMENT ONE and the route segment 2 in form route manager 2is illustrated as SQL table ROUTE SEGMENT TWO.

STEP NEXT E-MAIL ADDRESS NEXT STEP SQL TABLE ROUTE SEGMENT ONE: 1 B 2 2FORM ROUTE MANAGER 2 3 3 NULL NULL SQL TABLE ROUTE SEGMENT TWO: 1 C 2 2D 3 3 E 4 4 NULL NULL

The email sequence 171, 172, and 173 transfers the email from emailaddress A to email address B. The email 174 is used to transfer theemail between form route manager 1 and form route manager 2. The STEPfield in email 174 is set to the initial step, STEP=1, for route segment2 by form route manager 1. Form route manager 2 sends the email 175 toemail address C to continue route segment 2 and email 1711 to form routemanager 1 to confirm the transfer to route segment 2. The email 1711with STEP=3 is required if the form route manager 1 has a LOCATION andMOVE HISTORY TABLE to signify that route segment 1 is complete. The formroute manager uses email 1711 to confirm the receipt of email 174. Theemail sequence 176, 177, 178, 179, and 1710 transfers the email fromemail address C to email address D to email address E.

Complex Routes with Fork Branching, Parallel Routes, and Joining ofRoutes

In complex workflow, it may be highly desirable to have a route splitinto two or more parallel branch routes that proceed independently ofeach other. It may be also desirable to bring parallel branch routestogether to synchronize workflow or to combine into a single or smallernumber of routes. These concepts are illustrated in FIG. 18. Thefunction of splitting a route into branch routes, called a FORK, occurswhen the route at the user at email address B 182 splits into two branchroutes to email address C 1831 and to email address D 1841. Thecombination function called a JOIN occurs at email address G 185 wherethe branch routes from the email address E 1832 and email address F 1842join together. FORKS and JOINS can be based on rules to provide a highdegree of flexibility while still automating the procedures. A FORK canresult in parallel branch routes while a CONDITIONAL BRANCH directs flowto one of several choices.

The rules to activate branch routes need not activate all of the branchroutes but can activate a subset of the branch routes depending on theresult of the rules. As an example, assume there is four branch routes,W, X, Y, and Z and Rule 1 and Rule 2 apply at a FORK. Rule 1 can specifyconditions that when satisfied activate branch routes W and X inparallel by sending an email to the first email address in branch routeW and an email to the first email address in branch route X. Rule 2 canspecify conditions that when satisfied activate branch routes W, Y and Zin parallel by sending emails to the first email addresses in branchroutes W, Y and Z.

In an example, the JOIN rule may be employed in a situation whereparallel approval is required such as that where both fixed assetapproval and finance approval is required to continue a purchaseapproval procedure. In general, these rules may be generalized toinclude Boolean functions, voting, weighted votes, and unconditionaljoins.

FIG. 19 illustrates the route and sequence of emails to effect a FORK atemail address B. In one embodiment, a FORK ROUTE is shown in SQL TABLEFORK below. The FORK/JOIN column indicates when two or more rows at thesame step produce parallel workflow routes by the word “FORK”.

SQL TABLE FORK: STEP NEXT E-MAIL ADDRESS NEXT STEP FORK/JOIN 1 B 2   2 C3A FORK 2 D 3B FORK   3A NULL NULL   3B NULL NULL

At step or row 1, the form route directs the email to the email addressB. Rows two and three have the same step number and the key word FORK inthe FORK/JOIN column. At step 2, the form route manager generates aparallel workflow by sending email to both email address C and to emailaddress D. If the form route manager contains the LOCATION table andMOVE HISTORY table, each parallel route would have an entry in theLOCATION table. The document identifier can be augmented with a suffixto distinguish between the locations and move history of the parallelroutes. Those skilled in the art will recognize after review of thepresent application that alternative data structures can represent theinformation required for the parallel route and tracking functions.

In FIG. 19, the email sequence 191, 192, and 193 transfers the workflowdocument from email address A to the form route manager to email addressB to the form route manager. The form route manager copies the email 193and sends a copy email 1941 to email address D and a copy email 1942 toemail address C so that C and D can process the document in parallel.

In FIG. 20, the route specifies a JOIN at email address C. The routestructure is illustrated in SQL TABLE JOIN where a row with the key word“JOIN” in the FORK/JOIN column is used to signify where two or moreparallel routes join.

SQL TABLE JOIN: STEP NEXT E-MAIL ADDRESS NEXT STEP FORK/JOIN 1 C 3 JOIN2 C 3 JOIN 3 D 4 4 NULL NULL

The email 201 from the user at email address A and the email 202 fromthe user at email address B must be received by the form route managerbefore sending the email 203 to email address C. Thus, the join functionis similar to an AND logic gate. The form route manager has memory tosave receipt indicators of the asynchronous receipt of emails 201 and202 before sending the email to the email address C. The form routemanager receives either email 201 or 202 and sets an indicator to showone email was received and checks the other indicator to determine ifthe other email was received. The SQL table MESSAGE RECEIVED illustratesa data structure that implements this function when message 201 wasreceived.

SQL TABLE MESSAGE RECEIVED: STEP RECEIVED 1 201 2

Since message 202 had not been received, the form route manager beginsprocessing the next email. When message 202 is received, the form routemanager sends email 203 to the next step in the route, email address C.For multiple documents using the join function, each message and the SQLtable MESSAGE RECEIVED would require an additional field, DOC, todistinguish the use of join flags among the documents. Those skilled inthe art will recognize after review of the present application thatdifferent data structures could be devised to accomplish this function.

Fault Detection and Recovery

Workflow requires the cooperation of independent PCs and the emailsystem. A workflow can be delayed, for example, by a user not timelyperforming his step, or by an email being lost by a faulty email system.A fault detection mechanism can measure the time between the sending ofan email to a user and the receipt of the return email as illustrated inFIG. 21. There email 212 is sent and the form route manager clocks thewaiting period for the receipt of the email 213. If the time exceeds apredetermined interval, a potential fault is detected. Recovery could beresending the email, sending a notification email to another emailaddress or list of email addresses, sending an email to an email addressC next on the route, an email to the email address A who initiates theworkflow, an email to the manager of a user at email address B who isnot responding, or sending a telephone page to a phone number or set ofnumbers, or sending a FAX to a number or set of numbers. In some ofthese failures, the email will be lost. Because many email systems holdimages of emails sent by a client, the form route manager can storeimages of the sent emails to recover the lost email, For example, LotusNotes has an email log that can be used to recover lost emails. Manyemail and email systems also have extensive backup and recoverymechanisms to recover from system outages. The form route manager mayuse these mechanisms to recover from email failures.

The form route manager can be implemented using relational databasemanagement, RDBM, such as the Oracle 8i database, which has extensiveerror detection, recovery mechanisms, and permits easy implementation ofhigh reliability structures such as mirrored, duplicated hardware andreplicated, redundant databases. With the use of these technologies, theform route manager can be implemented to be highly reliable.

As mentioned, the email system may be used so that two form routemanager units can be backup units for each other, and this isillustrated in FIG. 22. Each workflow email is addressed to the secondform route manager as well as the email address to which the email issent. This ensures that the second form route manager has a copy of theemail and can track the progress of the workflow with respect to theform route manager, which sent the email. Many email systems can addressa message to a list of email addresses or can provide a courtesy copy ofthe email to another email address. The user at email address A can sendemail 221 to form route manager 1 and email 222 to form route manager 2.Form route manager 1 sends an email 223 to the email address B and anemail 224 to form route manager 2. When the user at email address Bcompletes the process step, the email is sent back using the REPLY ALLfunction available in many email systems that will send the email to thesender and all the addressees on the original email. This will send anemail 225 to the form route manager 1 and an email 226 to the form routemanager 2. This permits form route manager 2 to track the workflow. Theform route manager 1 sends the email 227 to the email address C andemail 228 to form route manager 2. The user at email address C sendsemail 229 to form route manager 1 and email 2210 to form route manager 2using the REPLY ALL function. If form route manager 1 fails, form routemanager 2 is ready and synchronized with the workflow. The emailaddresses can use the REPLY ALL function and send emails to both formroute managers, because the emails to the failed form route manager willbe queued in the email system. Because the two form route managers neednot be physically close, the form route managers can be spaced milesapart to ensure a catastrophe does not affect system reliability.

Workflow Document Format Changed by Form Route Manager Based on Route

In certain workflows, it is desirable to control what data each user inthe procedure can see, enter, or modify based on the step in the route.The form to be used may be specified in the route. The form routemanager holds a set of document templates in a forms library that areused as email formats. This may require that the form route managerextract data from an email it receives and insert it into an email formthat it is sending. The route has a form field associated with a routestep that designates the form to be used for that step. For FIG. 23, theSQL TABLE FORMS illustrates the route structure to implement the formsfunction.

SQL TABLE FORMS: STEP NEXT E-MAIL ADDRESS NEXT STEP NEXT FORM 1 B 2 W 2C 3 X 3 NULL NULL

In FIG. 23, the form route manager receives email 231 from a user atemail address A in format R, determines from the NEXT FORM field for thenext step 2 in the route that document format W is to be used and sendsemail 232 to email address B in format W. In similar fashion, email 233received in format S is mapped to format X for email 234 to emailaddress C.

Workflow Status, Route Editing, and Document Forms Request Emails

Users in workflow may want information on the progress or the statisticsof the workflow, such as the average process time. However, many of theusers are not connected to the form route manager and only have accessusing email. The critical parameter for such information is the value ofDOC, the index for the LOCATION and MOVE HISTORY tables. Each documenthas a unique DOC value. In certain embodiments, the users must save thevalue of DOC if they want to get status on the document. To facilitateemail access, FIG. 24 illustrates a set of email formats. In response toan email 241, having a control field STATUS, and sent by a user at emailaddress A, an email 242 is sent by the form route manager to emailaddress A with the STATUS and the DOC=I at the same time as the email243 is sent to the email address B. The user at email address A savesthe email 242 for later use to request status on this document. Theemail sequence 244 and 245 advances the document to email address C. Auser at email address A requests the status of the document by sendingemail 246 to form route manager by using the REPLY function on the email242 that was saved earlier. The form route manager responds with email247 with the LOCATION and MOVE HISTORY for the document with DOC=I. Auser at email address A can save email 247 and use it or email 242 torequest subsequent status.

Because many workflow users are connected to the form route manager justthrough the email system, the present invention provides a way to createor edit the route and emails for a workflow by use of emails. A requestfor email to the form route manager returns a route and emails documentsthat may be used to create a new route and emails for a new procedure orto edit a route or form for an existing procedure. The document editedin the PC is sent back to the form route manager to be added to thelibrary of procedures, routes, and forms. It may be desirable to have asecurity system that permits only those with the correct password oruser address to modify or add routes and forms.

The workflow may be initiated from a PC, terminal, or workstation bysending a workflow email to the form route manager. One of ordinaryskill would understand after review of the present application, that thecomputers at each email address can encompass any device with a displayand input, including hand-held and portable terminals, bar code readers,radio frequency, infrared, and ultraviolet-connected terminals, andother input/output devices that may participate in business procedures.The initial workflow document email can be obtained from the form routemanager by sending a request email for blank workflow emails for each ofthe active procedures. The form route manager responds with a list ofprocedures that may be initiated by that user. The user edits the listand sends it back to the form route manager. The form route manager thenresponds with workflow document emails in their initial state asrequested. These may be used immediately or saved by the user in theirmail log for later use. Alternatively, the email system can have blankinitial email forms that were sent by the form route manager in folders.Users can initiate workflow processes by just selecting the appropriateemail, use the REPLY function to address the email to the form routemanager, fill in the form (e.g., populate at least one empty field inthe form) and send it. Since the email was from the form route manager,the user need not address the email if REPLY is used.

The workflow procedure can be initiated by a computing machine or systemconnected to the email system. As an example, a company may have annualreviews. Human resources has the date of last review for each user andcan initiate a review procedure for each user who has a last review datelater than one year from the current date by sending a workflow documentemail, with the appropriate HR information, to the form route manager tosend to each manager who has an employee needing a review. Onceinitiated, the review procedure can be monitored to ensure that everyemployee receives his or her annual review.

Route Role Mapping To Users

The route for a procedure requires the email address of the people whoprocess each step. However, there may be a workflow that is the same butrequires different people. Rather than creating a different route foreach use, the route may have role symbols that are used to map to theactual email address of the people who are to execute the procedure. Forthe business travel reimbursement example, the roles are initiator,approver, and payer. The SQL TABLE ROLE ROUTE and SQL TABLE ROLES showthe relationships for concepts illustrated in FIG. 25.

SQL TABLE ROLE ROUTE: STEP NEXT ROLE NEXT STEP 1 R2 2 2 R3 3 3 NULL NULL

SQL TABLE ROLES: PROJECT ROLE EMAIL ADDRESS PROJECT 1 R1 A PROJECT 1 R2B PROJECT 1 R3 C PROJECT 2 R1 D PROJECT 2 R2 E PROJECT 2 R3 F PROJECT 3R1 TBD PROJECT 3 R2 MGR TBD PROJECT 3 R3 FIN

In FIG. 25, these three roles are shown as R1, R2, and R3. The email 251includes the control field PROJECT 252, which permits the selection ofemail addresses based on the value of PROJECT. The mapping in SQL TABLEROLE ROUTE permits the selection of the email addresses based on Project1 or Project 2 where for Project 1, R1 is email address A while forProject 2, R1 is email address D. The roles may be specified or may bedetermined based on other information such as an organization structure.The SQL TABLE ORGANIZATION illustrates the relationship of employees andmanagers.

SQL TABLE ORGANIZATION: EMPLOYEE MANAGER OF EMPLOYEE W Z X Z Y Q Z R Q R

For Project 3, R1 is to be determined (TBD), and is the email address ofthe initiator of the workflow. Based on TBD, R2 is selected as the emailaddress of the manager of TBD, the manager of the initiator, and R3 isthe email address FIN, finance or the accounting department. For exampleusing the organization illustrated in SQL TABLE ORGANIZATION, an emailfrom employee W with PROJECT=Project 3 would be sent to the manager ofemployee W, Z. Similarly, an email from employee Y would be sent tomanager Q. The mapping table can be designed to identify alternate orbackup personnel where the role table specifies a list of emailaddresses with a selection rule. Special emails to the form routemanager that edit the mapping table may be used to modify or to assignan alternate when a person is absent or on vacation.

In summary, the route role position may map to a list of people, each ofwhom may perform the process. The mapping of roles to people can bebased on an organization chart. As an example, in the business travelreimbursement procedure, the traveler role may not be assigned to aspecific person in the route but may be designated TBD when the email isreceived by the forms route manager. The R2 manager role is then mappedto the user who is the manager of the traveler.

Load Balancing

Some procedure routes identify two or more people who may execute aspecific process step. For a workflow tracked with LOCATION table, theform route manager can be used to make the selection of the user tobalance the load among the designated people. The selection is based onrules that can be set in the form route manager. As an example, a rulecan be set to send the workflow email to the user with the smallestnumber of workflow emails in the LOCATION table. This mechanism,however, makes the assignment without the possibility of reassigning theemail to another user and implements a multi-queue and multi-serverstructure. Another mechanism has a queue in the form route manager andeach user has no more than one workflow email in the LOCATION table.When a user completes a process step and sends the email to the formroute manager, the form route manager can then send that user anotheremail from the queue. This implements a more effectivesingle-queue-multi-server structure.

Advantages Associated with Email Systems

Some email systems, such as Microsoft Exchange, have an email recallfunction that removes unopened email from the email in-box of arecipient. This can recover emails sent to a user who is not processingworkflow documents and is holding up documents in process.

Many email systems provide functions that separate emails based onsender identification. This will provide an easy way for users toseparate the workflow emails from their other email. Sort by date andother sorts of the in-box can be used to prioritize the workflow emailsfor each user. Some email systems will sort on the subject field and theform route manager can send the due date in this field. Some emailsystems have several email priorities that can be used by the businessprocedure to help prioritize the users' workflow emails. Some emailsystems have an automated email-forwarding mechanism that will permit auser to assign a second user as the recipient of the emails. Thisfunction forwards to the second user the emails addressed to the firstuser. This function can be used when a user goes on vacation or on anextended trip and cannot execute the process steps assigned to him. Useof the REPLY and REPLY ALL functions is essential for easy use of theemail based workflow system. It avoids the need for any of the users toever enter the address of the form route manager and easily supports abackup, alternate form route manager. The email systems are evolving toprovide good user interfaces and functions. The email based workflowsystem can take advantage of many of these functions and minimize theneed for any special programs in the PC, terminal host, or workstation.

Advantages Associated with the Internet

Microsoft Exchange permits users to access their in-boxes using remotePC's connected by phone lines or the Internet. Microsoft Exchange alsosends and receives emails from the Internet so the workflow users can beemail clients on the Internet. These email system capabilities permitthe form route manager to control workflow procedures that have processsteps extending beyond the LAN-connected PC's, terminals, andworkstations and permit the workers to have remote access and addressesanywhere on the Internet, which extends the workflow capabilities beyondthe traditional boundaries of a company and permits integration ofworkflow among commercial trading partners. Many email systems havethese capabilities so implementation of the form route manager programis not limited to Microsoft Exchange.

The workflow users of email systems can connect to the Internet andparticipate in the workflow controlled by a form route manager attachedsomewhere on the Internet. The users need not be concerned aboutremembering the email address of the form route manager, since theworkflow email is from the form route manager and the response isreturned using the REPLY function. The users may participate in workflowcontrolled by two or more form route manager units and need notdistinguish between the form route manager addresses, since the responseemails return to the correct form route manager. The workers need onlyopen their email, set the email to reply to sender, process their step,and send the modified email.

Advantages Associated with the World Wide Web

In one embodiment, the workflow system can be an integration of emailand World Wide Web technologies where the form route manager is a WorldWide Web site with email capability. The emails from the form routemanager include the URL (Uniform Resource Locator, the human readableaddress of an Internet site or a specific web page) or IP (InternetProcess, the system address of an Internet site) of the form routemanager and the message from the user in the form of connections to theform route manager web site. Many email systems are web browser based orintegrate with browser technology. Many of these can launch a connectionto a web site from a URL or IP address embedded in an email. A userreceives an email with the URL or IP address of the form route managerweb site and connects to the site by selecting the address embedded inthe email. The form route manager determines the step in the route andprovides access to the document. The user acts on the document as a webpage that is sent back to the form route manager web site. The formroute manager determines the next step in the route and the emailaddress of the next user, addresses an email with the embedded URL or IPaddress of the form route manager web site, and sends the email. Thisprocess continues until the workflow route is complete.

One embodiment assigns every document in the workflow a unique URL to aweb page that contains the document and a STEP field. The functionsdescribed for the email based workflow system that uses email aredirectly translated to the hybrid Internet world wide web and emailworkflow system where the emails sent by the form route manager are realemail and the responses by the users take the form of connections andsubmissions of web pages to the form route manager web site. Note thatthe user need not know the URL of the form route manager since it isembedded in the email 266. This permits the users to interact withmultiple form route managers with ease since the URL address in theemail directs the user to the correct form route manager web site. Theuser email in-box remains as the interface to all of the form routemanager workflow servers, independent of the means by which the usersends back the message: email or web connection.

FIG. 26 describes the operation of the hybrid email World Wide Webworkflow system. The user at email address A initiates the workflow byconnecting to the form route manager web site using URL1, receives a webpage 267 with the initial form of the document, and starts a document ona workflow route by submitting the web page 261 back to the form routemanager. The form route manager determines from the STEP field in theweb page that this is the first step in the route and assigns URL2 asthe URL for this document. From the route, the forms route managerdetermines that B is the next email address, addresses the email to B,updates the web page STEP field to the value of the next step, embedsURL2, the URL of the web page with this document in the form routemanager web site, in the email and sends the email 262 to email addressB. A user at email address B connects to the form route manager web siteby selecting the embedded URL2 in the email 262 and the form routemanager web site sends the document to B as a web page 263. The user atemail address B receives the web page 263 with the document, updates thedocument and submits the web page 263. The form route manager receivesweb page 263 and determines from the STEP field and the route that emailaddress C is the next email address on the route and sends a similarlyconstructed email 264 to C including URL2 as the embedded URL. A user atemail address C connects to the form route manager web site using URL2,receives the web page with the document, processes the document, andsubmits the web page 265 to the form route manager web site. The formroute manager receives the web page 265 and determines from the STEPfield that the route is complete for the workflow.

The message-based workflow can be further integrated into the webtechnology by replacing the sending of an email to an email address withthe sending of a specific web page 276 to an IP address using “push”technology. One of the earliest implementations of push technology wasPointCast, which uses the broadcast model in the context of web serversand browsers. PointCast or a another conventional push technology canprovide a mechanism for a web site to push a web page to a specific IPaddress or the IP address can poll the web site and pull a web page whenprovided by the web site.

FIG. 27 illustrates one implementation of PointCast messages from theforms route manager to send the document to a user as a web page wherethe user processes the document and submits the web page back to theform route manager web site. The user at IP address A submits web page271 to the form route manager web site. The form route managerdetermines from STEP=1 that this is the initial document, assigns URL3as the URL for this document, determines from the route that IP addressB is the next IP address and sets STEP=2, the next step in the route,and PointCast 272 to IP address B using URL3. The PointCast may be theentire web page or part of a page with URL3 that appears in an in-boxlike web page at IP address B where the user must request the page bysubmitting a request to URL3. The in-box like web page can function muchas the email in-box to hold the workflow documents waiting for the user.The user at IP address B processes the web page and submits the web page273 to URL3, the form route manager web site. The form route managerdetermines from STEP=2 and the route that the next step is 3 and thenext IP address is C. The form route manager updates the STEP field to 3and sends PointCast 274 to IP address C. The user at IP address Cprocesses the web page and submits the web page 275 to URL3, the formroute manager web site. The form route manager determines from STEP=3and the route that this completes the workflow for this document.

The workflow may be initiated from a library of email in a folder in theemail system, where there is one email for each workflow process andeach is addressed with the email address of the appropriate form routemanager. These may be copied by the users and sent to the form routemanager. In a hybrid, email/web system, the form route manager addressesare the URL of the form route manager and the user connects to the formroute manager site using this web address. The web page can have afolder of forms. These folders can be thought of as the library of formsthat businesses have where each form is tailored to a specific process.For example, travel expense forms, employee address update forms, etc.Each form is a document with an underlying process. This electroniclibrary of email or web forms not only provides the document for theprocess, but also provides the blank initial form for the electronicroute that supports the process. As previously discussed, users caninitiate workflow processes by just selecting the appropriate email orweb form, fill in the form (e.g., populate at least one empty field inthe form) and submit the populated form to the form route manager.

The present invention permits workflow systems to have functions that inthe past have been implemented only in database workflow systems, whilepermitting the wide participation of workers connected through emailmessaging systems, including the Internet, without requiring the PC's,terminals, or workstations of these workers to have any special programother than email or a browser used with the World Wide Web. Theinvention eliminates the barriers that have hindered the widespread useof electronic workflow systems and will permit rapid growth of thistechnology, which will effectively focus the efforts of office workersfor a majority of business procedures and will dramatically improve thequality of results, reduce processing time, and lower costs.

The present invention also relates to integration of the workflow systemwith a calendar system. A calendar system can be a feature of acommercial software product such as Microsoft Outlook or MicrosoftSchedule+. Microsoft Outlook will be used as an example, but thoseskilled in the art will understand how the invention can be applied toother calendar systems. Microsoft Outlook is discussed in detail inSyroid and Leuf, Outlook 2000 In A Nutshell (2001) O'Reilly, which ishereby incorporated by reference.

Microsoft Outlook has facilities to implement message-based integrationwith the workflow system, e.g., an alert message and an email calendarscheduling message format. The alert message mechanism triggers amessage to calendar users at a specified date and time. The mechanismcan be modified to send an email to a specified email address at thespecified date and time. Microsoft Outlook also uses email messages tocoordinate the scheduling of calendar event by one user with anothercalendar or to add, modify, or delete calendar events. This mechanismcan be used without modification where the email messages from theworkflow system are designed to follow the format of the MicrosoftOutlook email messages and contain the information to schedule therequested calendar event.

FIG. 28 illustrates a calendar system displaying an event 1 (e.g., ameeting) set for 9 am Tuesday. When the time matches the set date andtime, the calendar system sends email 2 to email address B to initiate aworkflow route 3 having email address B and email address E.

FIG. 29 illustrates a workflow route 3 having a calendar system with anemail address CAL, which initiates a workflow route where a user atemail address B executes the next step and a user at email address Eexecutes the final step. The email 4 contains from and to address fieldsto indicate the source and recipient of the email and a message body.There an email system, a calendar system, the form route manager, andfour email addresses shown in FIG. 29, namely, the calendar system withemail address CAL, the form route manager with email address FRM, theuser at email address B, and the user at email address E. The calendarsystem detects the calendar event 1 and sends a modified calendar alertsuch as an email 5 to the form route manager. The email 5 initiates theworkflow route 3 in the form route manager. The form route managerexamines the route 3 and determines that the email address B is the nextstep in the route 3 and sends an email 7 to the user at email address Bwho completes the step and sends an email 8 to the form route manager.The form route manager receives the email 8, examines the route 3,determines the user at email address E will execute the next step, andsends email 9 to the email address E. The user at email address Eexecutes the work at that step and sends the email 10 to the form routemanager, which examines the route 3 and determines that the route 3 iscomplete.

FIG. 30 illustrates a process, where a user at email address B initiatesa workflow route 12, followed by a work step executed by a user at emailaddress E, and then an email 13 to a calendar system to schedule acalendar event 1 for Thursday at noon.

FIG. 31 illustrates a workflow route 12 initiated by a user at emailaddress B followed by a user at email address E. The final route step atthe user at email address E contains an indicator to send a notificationmessage 13 to the calendar system. The notification message 13 followsthe format of the calendar system to schedule a calendar event for aspecific date and time. In response to notification message 13, thecalendar system schedules a calendar event 11 in the calendar system.The email message format 4 includes the address fields to, from, and themessage body. The user at email address B initiates the workflow route12 by sending an email 14 to the form route manager. The form routemanager examines the route 12, determines the next step is at emailaddress E, and sends email 15 to email address E. When the user at emailaddress E completes the step, an email 16 is sent to the form routemanager. The form route manager receives the email 16, examines theroute 12 and determines that the route is complete and that anotification email 13 is to be sent to the calendar system. The calendarsystem receives the notification email 13 and, based on the parametersfor a specific date and time, schedules the calendar event 11. It shouldbe noted that any route step can contain a notification indicator and aroute can be designed to create calendar events at any specified routestep. The calendar system and the workflow systems are integrated by useof appropriate messages. Email messages are easily used for thisintegration.

Another project management tool that can be used with the presentinvention is a project management system such as Microsoft Project.Microsoft Project is suitable, but persons of skill in the art willunderstand how the invention can be applied to other project managementsystems. Microsoft Project supports two facilities that can be used toimplement message-based integration with the workflow system: a MailApplication Program Interface (MAPI) and Visual Basic macro developmentand execution capability. Microsoft Project uses email and the WorldWide Web to assign tasks, request status on tasks, and to acceptupdating information as tasks progress and complete. Microsoft Projectprovides the user documentation, e.g., the help file and user manual,which are hereby incorporated by reference. The messages are designedfor a person who manages the project to send messages to people on theteam and so that the team members can accept or decline taskassignments, respond to status requests, and send information on status.To execute these functions, Microsoft Project can use MAPI to create,send, receive and process messages. In one embodiment, the inventionmodifies these capabilities to automate these message-processingfunctions by use of Visual Basic macros.

FIG. 32 illustrates a project management program display of four projectsegments, the calendar dates for the beginning and end for each projectsegment, and the relationship between the project segments. The calendardisplay shows the estimated beginning and end dates of the projectsegments. For example, segment A begins early in May 2005 and isscheduled to complete in early June. Link 17 indicates that segment Amust complete before segment B begins. Link 18 indicates that segment Bmust complete before segment D begins, and link 19 indicates thatsegment C must complete before segment D begins. The estimated projectsegment durations are the source of the plan and schedule of the overallproject. The overall project duration is calculated based on theduration of segment A, plus the duration of segment B, plus the durationof segment D. If, however, the duration of segment C becomes larger thanthe sum of the durations of segment A and segment B, the calculatedduration is the sum of segment C and segment D.

A project management system helps to estimate the duration of a complexproject composed of many interrelated project segments. The projectmanagement system can identify the critical path for the project, thatis, the sequence of project segments that determine the total projectduration. In FIG. 32, one critical path is segment A, segment B, andsegment D; another is segment C and segment D. The project managementsystem can be used during the execution of the project. For example,after segment A is completed, the actual beginning and end dates can beentered, and a new estimate of the project end date can be calculated.However, in practice, capturing the actual dates is a difficult task andthe project management system is used for planning but not for measuringthe execution of a project. In many cases, the measurement is done on aperiodic basis, at milestones or when it is apparent that the project isin trouble. With the actual dates for the completed project segments andnew estimates of the segments that have not completed, the project canbe planned again and a new completion date calculated. It would bebeneficial if the project management system could calculate thecompletion date based on capturing the actual execution time of theproject segments.

A workflow route can be used to control most project segments, which areprocesses. FIG. 33 illustrates the relationship between a projectsegment 20 and a workflow route 29. FIG. 33 also illustrates a projectmanagement system that sends a message 30 to a workflow system toinitiate a workflow route 29 and the workflow system sends a message 32to the project management system at the completion of the route 29.Integration of the project management system and the workflow systempermits the project management system to initiate the execution of aproject segment and to record the completion of the project segment.This permits the project management system to actually manage theproject.

FIG. 34 illustrates a route 36 that is initiated by a project managementsystem with email address PMS followed by a user at email address B thena user at email address E. At the completion of the route 36, anotification message 38 is sent to the project management system. FIG.34 illustrates the email message format 4 with the address fields to andfrom, the message body, and a sequence of messages to implement theintegration of a project segment 20 with a route 36. The projectmanagement system initiates the project segment 20 and sends a message37 to the form route manager.

The message body of email 37 initiates workflow route 36. The form routemanager examines the route 36 and determines that the next step is emailaddress B and sends email 40 to email address B. The user at emailaddress B executes the workflow step and returns email 43 to the formroute manager. The form route manager receives the email 43, examinesthe route 36, determines that the next step is email address E, andsends email 44 to email address E. The user at email address E executesthe workflow step and returns email 45 to the form route manager. Theform route manager receives email 45, examines the route 36, determinesthat the route 36 is complete, and sends a notification message 38 tothe email address PMS of the project management system.

FIG. 35 illustrates the relationship between a segment G with a link 49to a segment H where completion of segment G triggers the beginning ofsegment H. FIG. 35 further illustrates segment G associated withworkflow route 47 and segment H associated with a workflow route 51. Thebeginning of segment G sends message 46 to initiate route 47. At thecompletion of route 47, message 48 is sent to indicate the completion ofsegment G. The link 49 in the project management system indicates thecompletion of segment G will initiate segment H and will send message 50to initiate workflow route 51. At the completion of route 51, a message56 is sent to indicate the completion of segment H.

FIG. 36 illustrates the set of segments shown in FIG. 32. The task forsegment A is contained in route 912, for segment B in route 932, forsegment C in route 952, and for segment D in route 972. The projectmanagement system starts segment A by initiating the route 912 with amessage 911 and receives message 913 at the completion of route 912signaling the completion of the task for segment A. The projectmanagement system has a relationship 17 so the completion of segment Astarts segment B. The project management system starts segment B bysending message 931 to initiate route 932. When the route 932 completes,message 933 is sent to the project management system signaling thecompletion of the task for segment B. In parallel, segment C starts witha message 951 to initiate route 952. When route 952 completes, message953 is sent to signal the completion of the task for segment C.Relationships 18 and 19 relate the beginning of segment D to whensegment B and segment C complete. Segment D starts by sending a message971 to initiate route 972. When route 972 completes, segment D and theproject are completed.

FIG. 38 illustrates the relationships between individual projectsegments and their associated workflow routes remain the same even ifthe relationship between the segments changes. For example, supposeduring the project the relationship between segments change from thatdepicted in FIG. 32 to that in FIG. 37. This new set of relationshipsbetween the segments is indicated by link 57, link 59, and link 60. Nowsegment A and segment B are in parallel rather than in series with each,while as before they and segment C must all finish before beginningsegment D. This might appear to result in extra work to change theassociated workflow routes. However, it becomes clear upon comparingFIGS. 36 and 38 that each project segment maintains its own associatedworkflow route so the change in the relationships between the segmentspermitted a corresponding change in relationship between the associatedworkflow routes without additional effort.

FIG. 39 illustrates how workflow of the present invention can be used tocontrol and track the execution of an individual project segment A. Asshown, the workflow route includes an individual segment P, whichrepresents the estimated duration and segment A, which represents theactual duration. At the beginning of segment A, the project managementsystem sends a message 66 at step B of the workflow route 70, and atstep E the workflow system sends a message 71 to the project managementsystem to indicate the completion of segment A. The workflow route canthen calculate and report the time for completing a project segment andthus keep the project management system current.

FIG. 40A and FIG. 40B illustrate if a project segment is modified and itchanges the workflow route, the modified route can be entered into theworkflow system and the relationship can be set in the workflow routeand in the project segment. For example, if the project segment A shownin FIG. 40A requires interim reporting, a step R can be added in route72. As before the addition, a message 73 initiates the route 72 at stepB, but when the route 72 reaches step R, a message 75 is sent to theproject management system. When route 72 completes at step E, a message74 is sent to the project management system. The project planning,actual execution tracking, and project recovery planning use the projectmanagement system. The linking of the systems by use of messages createsa project planning and execution tracking system.

I hereby incorporate herein the computer program listing described inU.S. Pat. No. 5,978,836.

1. A method, comprising: receiving a message from a form route managerat a first destination address, the message being associated with aworkflow process; receiving data from a user based on the message toproduce a populated message; and sending the populated message to theform route manager such that the form route manager sends the populatedmessage to a first user at a second destination address in response tothe populated message, the second destination address being from aplurality of destination addresses in a sequential route associated withthe workflow process.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving a notification message from the form route manager at thefirst destination address, the notification message identifying a statusof the populated message in the workflow process.
 3. The method of claim1, further comprising: receiving a notification message from the formroute manager at the first destination address after the form routemanager receives a response from a last destination address from theplurality of destination addresses.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: after the sending, sending an information request related toa status of the workflow process from the form route manager.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: sending a workflow terminationrequest to the form route manager after a modified message is receivedfrom the form route manager at the first destination address, themodified message being produced when a last user at a last destinationaddress from the plurality of destination addresses modifies the data ofthe populated message.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the seconddestination address is one of an email address, an IP address, or a Webaddress.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending the populatedmessage is performed such that the form route manager sends thepopulated message to each destination address from the plurality ofdestination addresses sequentially.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein atleast one of the receiving the message, the receiving data, or thesending is performed automatically by a computing system based on eventdata stored within the computing system.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the data is associated with a document having a responserequest.
 10. A method, comprising: sending an access request for a Webpage at a first destination address associated with a form routemanager, the Web page being associated with a workflow process;receiving data associated with an empty field of the Web page to producea populated Web page; and sending the populated Web page to the formroute manager such that the form route manager sends a messagecontaining a second destination address associated with the populatedWeb page to a first user at a first email address in response to thepopulated Web page, the first email address being from a plurality ofemail addresses in a sequential route associated with the workflowprocess.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: receiving anotification message from the form route manager at a notificationaddress, the notification message identifying a status of the populatedWeb page in the workflow process.
 12. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: receiving a notification message from the form route managerat a notification address after the form route manager receives aresponse from a last email address from the plurality of emailaddresses.
 13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: sending aworkflow termination request to the form route manager after a modifiedWeb page is received from the form route manager at a last email addressfrom the plurality of email addresses, the last email address beingassociated with an initiator of the workflow process, the modified Webpage being produced when a second user at a second email address fromthe plurality of email addresses modifies the data of the populated Webpage.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the sending the populated Webpage is performed such that the form route manager sends the populatedWeb page to each email address from the plurality of email addressessequentially.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of thesending the access request, the receiving the data, or the sending thepopulated Web page is performed automatically by a computing systembased on event data stored within the computing system.
 16. The methodof claim 10, wherein the data is associated with a document having aresponse request.
 17. An apparatus, comprising: a memory; and aprocessor, at least a portion of the processor including at least aportion of the memory, the processor configured to send a first messageto a form route manager at a first destination address, the firstmessage identifying a workflow process to be initiated from a pluralityof workflow processes, the processor configured to receive a secondmessage associated with the identified workflow process from the formroute manager, the processor configured to update the second message toinclude a plurality of email addresses to produce a workflow message,the plurality of email addresses defining a sequential route associatedwith the identified workflow process, and the processor configured tosend the workflow message to the form route manager at the firstdestination address, the form route manager configured to send theworkflow message to each email address from the plurality of emailaddresses in the route in response to the workflow message.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to update theworkflow message with data input by a user such that the workflowmessage with the data is sent to each destination address in the routevia the form route manager in response to the workflow message with thedata.
 19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is configuredto update the workflow message with data input by the second user suchthat the processor sends the workflow message with the data to the formroute manager at the first destination address.
 20. The apparatus ofclaim 17, wherein the processor is configured to send the workflowmessage to the form route manager at the first destination address to bestored within a memory of the form route manager, the workflow messagebeing accessible to a user via the form route manager.
 21. The apparatusof claim 17, wherein the second message is generated by the form routemanager based on the first message.
 22. The apparatus of claim 17,wherein the first destination address is one of an email address, an IPaddress, or a Web address.